Author(s)

Leszek Świątek

Abstract

Geothermal energy is developing with high progress to provide clean energy production standards at a world-wide scale. These projects are characterized with high risk level associated with drilling methods, resource existence, uncertain heat water temperature and its chemistry. The risk mitigation scenarios are crucial to avoid investment failure. Presented paper is a case study of geothermal investment in Trzęsacz, located in the Baltic coastline in Poland, where predicted heat water (38°C) was planned to be used for leisure, swimming and balneological purposes. The final effect of test drilling was disruptive. Thermal water has temperature 27°C and is not enough to fulfill needs of planned water park facilities and hot springs recreational proposals. The concept had to be revised. The amount of wasted water and embodied energy were recognized as a high entropy problem. In the spirit of syntropic development model, an idea to consume unwanted geothermal water and to treat it as useful local resource for aquaculture purposes was taken into consideration. That way the Jurassic Salmon Farm realization in Janowo in 2015, the first in the world salmon fishery based on geothermal resources, became an inspiration for future fishery deliberation, the fastest growing food sector globally. The Farm was realized 5 km from operating geothermal well, supported with EU funds and research programme led by West – Pomeranian University of Technology in Szczecin. The greenfield investment powered by renewable energy, based on biosafety and industrial ecology rules is an example of the 21st century bioculture. This one moved to urban areas may comply with broad sense to the city  aquaculture, aquaponics or urban agriculture, with improvement of the risk reduction strategy in geothermal energy investments. This is the potential to be used by local communities, which can favor synergy effect on the way to regenerative design and syntropic development model.

Keywords

geothermal energy development, syntropy, sustainable aquaculture, regenerative design, risk mitigation.